Jerry Petersen
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and 2024 Wash100 awardee William LaPlante on March 12 signed an acquisition decision memorandum approving the Milestone C / Full Rate Production of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
The milestone serves to validate the capabilities of the aircraft and positions the F-35 program for efficient production and delivery, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.
LaPlante, whose office serves as the milestone decision authority for the program, described the MSC/FRP as “a major achievement” that assures F-35 customers of the aircraft’s stability, agility and compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.
These requirements include the assessment of the results of the combined initial operational test and evaluation and live fire test and evaluation and the system development and demonstration exit criteria.
Nearly 1,000 units of the F-35 aircraft have been delivered to various users, including the U.S. military, F-35 Cooperative Program partners and foreign military sales customers.
